Multiple shipping container



Dec. 29, 1964 w. M. SHIVE MULTIPLE SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed Dec. 4, 1962 I INVENTOR W\LL\AM M. SHWE WK m ms ATTORNEY United States. Patent O 3,163,290 MULTIPLE SHIPPING CONTAINER William M. Shive, Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 4, 1962, Ser. No. 242,317 5 Claims. (Cl. 206-65) The present invention relates to the design of a shipping container for a grouping of at least four individual fiberboard cartons without using an outer carton. The con I tainer is also provided with a toplifting flange so that the entire container may be engaged by the fork of an industrial lift truck and the container raised and transported from one place to another particularly in loading and unloading the container into warehouses and transporting cartons simultaneously.

The present invention relates to the combining of smaller individual cartons into one larger shipping container while eliminating the necessity of an outer carton and continuing the use of the advantageous feature of a lifting flange adjacent the top of the container.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a shipping container for a plurality of individual cartons by using a lid member that interlocks with the cartons and provides a top lifting flange in combination with tension means for binding the individual cartons together into a single unit. 7

A further object of the preset invention is to provide a shipping container of the class described by interlocking the individual cartons with a lid member and at the same time providing a top lift-ing flange which is rigidified by a tension means which binds the individual cartons together Without the necessity of providing an outer carton into which the individual cartons are assembled.

The present invention, in accordance with one form thereof is combined in a shipping container for a grouping of at least four individual fiberboard cartons which are assembled into one large multiple container without the necessity of using an outer carton for receiving the individual cartons. Each individual carton is of similar shape and has the form of a rectangular parallelepiped. An outer side Wall of each individual carton is provided with a flap that is folded along the top edge of the side wall and turned down against the supporting side wall. A lid member of fiberboard is positioned over the, top of the grouping of individual cartons and the lid has an interlocking double flap at opposite sides thereof for engaging across and behind the related flaps of the individual cartons. A tension member encircles the individual cartons in the horizontal plane of the flaps thereby establishing a lifting flange adjacent the top of the container. A second tension member is arranged around the bottom portion of the grouping of the individual cartons for completing the large multiple container.

My invention will be better understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a completed shipping container embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an exploded view showing a first step in the assembling 'of the shipping container of FIGURE 1;

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FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view of an upper corner of the container of FIGURE 1 taken at the end of the container and looking in the direction of the extent of the lifting flange thereby showing the tension strap in crosssection, V

Turning to a consideration of the drawing and in particular to FIGURE 2, there is shown a grouping of six individual cartons 10 which are identical; in nature and have the shape of a rectangular pa-rallelopiped. This is the standard shape of an appliance carton for'domestic appliances such as clothes washers, ranges, etc. It so happens that this invention was particularly devised for smaller domestic appliances; namely, a food waste disposer, where the dimensions of the carton will be much smaller than the other domestic appliances. For example, the base of the carton 10 would be about 12" square, while the height will be about 16" and the weight would be approximately 20 pounds, although this may vary from 8 pounds to 30 pounds depending upon the size and model of the disposer.

Each individual carton 10 .is an ordinary one-piece shipping carton that is generally known as a regular slotted carton having four rectangular side panels where the opposite sides are identified as elements 11, 11 and 12, 12. The top edge 13 and bottom edge 14 ofeach side panel 11 is provided with a flap 15 which is substantially one half the size of the top wall and bottom wall respectively of the carton. Similarly, the top edge 16 and the bottom edge 17 of the side panels 12 are each provided with a flap 18 of about the size of one'half the top wall and bottom wall respectively of the carton so that when these flaps 15 and18 are folded toward each other glue may be placed between the top surfaces of the flaps 15 and the bottom surfaces ofthe flaps 18 for sealing the carton closed as is the usual procedure.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, however, one flap 18 that is hinged to the top edge '16 of the outermost side panel 12 is not closed over the top of the carton 10 but instead is folded out and down against the side panel 12 so that at opposite sides of the grouping of cartons 10 there are a plurality of downwardly disposed flaps 18 as shown in FIGURE 2. j

A fiberboard lid member 20 of the size that will cover the top walls of the grouping of individual cartons 10 is next positioned over the cartons. Notice that the oppositejlongitudinal sides 21 of the lid are eachprovided with a double flap 22that includes a first outer fold 23 and a second inner fold 24 that is positioned behind the flaps 18. of the individual cartons as is best seen in FIGURE 3, and is thereby interlocked with the flaps 18 of the individual cartons. In order to tie the individual cartons 10 together to form a unitary assembly, a pair of tension straps 26 and 27 encircle the cartons along the girth thereof as is best seen in FIGURE 1. The uppermost strap 26 is horizontally arranged within the plane of the flaps 22 and 18 which form in combination a lifting flange at the opposite sides of the completed container as best seen in FIGURE 1. It is likewise necessary to fasten the lower portions of the carton together and this function is accomplished by the lowermost strap 27. The four corners of the container are reinforced against the collapsing force exerted by the upper strap 26 by the presence of the interlocked flaps 22 and 18. However, there is is no inherent reinforcement at the four corners of the container in the vicinity of the lower strap 27. Hence, small fiberboard pieces 28 are folded around the corners before the lower strap 27 is applied so as to prevent the collapse of the corners which might otherwise result in the loosening of the lower strap 27 and its eventual loss during shipment of rough handling.

Having described above a design of a shipping con- 3,163,290 Patented Dec. 29, 1964 tainer for multiple fiberboard cartons where the con-' tainer has a lifting flange and does not require the use of an outer carton, it will readily be apparent to those skilled in this art that the resulting design accomplishes the same results as the larger single shipping cartons having top lifting flanges without having-to supply both small individual cartons and a large overall carton. This design is not only easy to manufacture and assemble but it is also low in'cost, reliable in operation, and anadvantage to the consignee in unpacking the shipping container and disposing of the several individual cartons that were used for protecting the appliance against damage during shipping and storage. One obvious modification would be to install a lid similar to the top lid under the bottom of the container so as to strengthen the lower portion of the container.

Modifications oi this invention will occur to those skilled in this art, and, therefore, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular emhodiments disclosed but that it is intended to cover all modifications which are within the true spirit and scope of this invention as claimed.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:'

1. A shipping container comprising a grouping of at least four individual fiberboard cartons which are to be joined together into a large container unit, each individual carton having a top flap which is folded down along one side wall to present a pair of down-turned flaps at two of the opposite sides of the cartons, a fiberboard lid positioned over the tops of the four individual cartons, said lid including a down-turned double flap member along two of its opposite sidespeach double flapmember extending down and behind the pair of flaps at one side of the .carton' to be interlocked therewith, and a tension strap tightly encompassing the individual cartons and the down-turned flap members to form a top lifting flange at the opposite sides of the large container unit, the bottom portion of the grouping of individual cartons also including a tension strap for completing the unit 2. A shipping container comprising a grouping of at least six individual fiberboard cartons where each individual carton has rectangular sides forming a rectangular parallelopiped, the top of each carton having a hinged flap at each side thereof of substantially one half the size of the top, at least'one outer flapof each carton being folded down along a vertical side wall of the carton, a fiberboard lid positioned-over the topsof all the individual cartons, said lid having a double flap member along at least two of its opposite'sides, each double flap extending down and behind the down-turned top flaps of the individual cartons to be interlocked therewith, and a tension strap tightly encompassing the individual cartons in the horizontal plane of the downturned flaps to form a top liftingflange means, the bottom portion of the grouping of individual cartons including a second tension strap for completing the container unit.

3. A shipping container comprising a grouping of at least four individual fiberboard cartons which are to be combined into a large container unit without the use of an outer carton, each individual carton being of similar shape in the form of a rectangular parallelopiped, an

individual carton having a-flap which is creased hori-t zontally along the top edge thereof and folded down and against the supporting side wall, each of the flaps being located along two opposite sides of the grouping, a fiber board lid positioned over the tops of the groupings of individual cartons, said lid having an interlocking flap at each of the two opposite sides thereof to extend across and behind the related flaps of the individual cartons, and tension means encircling the individual cartons in the horizontal plane of the flaps, the bottom portion of the grouping of the cartons including a second tension means for completing the unit.

2 4. A shipping container comprising a grouping of at least two individual cartons, each individual carton having a top flap folded down along itsside wall opposite the other individual carton, a lid positioned over the tops of the individual cartons and including a down-turned double flap member along two of its" opposite sides, each tons to secure the individual cartons' together.

ReferencestCited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,815,565, 7/31 Hill et al. 229-915 2,646,911 7/ 5 3 Holmberg. 2,869,721 1/59 Baumer 206?- 2,953,268 9/60 Horton 2147-313 3,066,842 12/62 Croleyr 3,087,666 4/63 Kitchell 22 9-.-l5

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner. GEORGE O. RALSTON, Examiner. 

4. A SHIPPING CONTAINER COMPRISING A GROUPING OF AT LEAST TWO INDIVIDUAL CARTONS, EACH INDIVIDUAL CARTON HAVING A TOP FLAP FOLDED DOWN ALONG ITS SIDE WALL OPPOSITE THE OTHER INDIVIDUAL CARTON, A LID POSITIONED OVER THE TOPS OF THE INDIVIDUAL CARTONS AND INCLUDING A DOWN-TURNED DOUBLE FLAP MEMBER ALONG TWO OF ITS OPPOSITE SIDES, EACH DOUBLE FLAP MEMBER EXTENDING DOWN AND BEHIND SAID TOP FLAP OF THE CARTON TO BE INTERLOCKED THEREWITH, AND MEANS SECURING THE DOWN-TURNED FLAP MEMBERS TO THE SIDE WALLS OF SAID INDIVIDUAL CARTONS TO FORM A TOP LIFTING FLANGE AT THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE LARGE CONTAINER UNIT. 